Six Feet Under was loaded with terrific minor characters. Angela (played by Illeana Douglas), the zany mortician who dressed like a hooker; Ben, David's adorable public defender boyfriend in season 2; Mary, the completely fucked-up would-be surrogate mother; Carol (played by Catherine O'Hara), Lisa's evil boss; and Melissa the prostitute - these were all great characters. (Unfortunately, it would have been impossible to bring back the Melissa character unless they recast the role, as the actress who played her died).

I also loved Lara the sous chef on The L Word, as well as Ivan the drag king, played by Kelly Lynch.

Former sheriff Alvin Yood on Oz. Although I think he ended up in jail because of a racially motivated hate crime (bad), I did love his wisecracking in the cop wing, Unit J. He'll always have my undying love for pushing Claire down the stairs and his mock shock afterward. Hee.

I'm not sure where this goes, but Wendie Jo Sperber has died.

She was on Bosom Buddies, and she was the only woman in the whole apartment building who knew that Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari were in drag.

May she rest in peace.

Wendy Jo Sperber was a minor movie character too. She played Marty's sister on the Back To The Future movies. I'm surprised this wasn't in any of the papers I read. SHe had a great line too: That was so stupid! Grandpa hit him with the car!

Ro Laren on Star Trek: The Next Generation - she had some terrific moments on that show, and her fairwell episode was one of the show's best, but she really should have been a regular.

Admiral Forrest on Star Trek: Enterprise should also have been used more.

Wasn't Ro Laren supposed to be in DS9?

I thought she was to take Major Kira's position but the actress decided against it.

Yes, Ro Laren was originally supposed to be a regular on DS9 but Michelle Forbes decided against it and they came up with the character of Kira instead. I've always had conflicting feelings about this because Ro was indeed one of the coolest minor characters ever, yet Kira ended up being one of my favorite Star Trek characters ever.

Simon Donovan, CJ's Secret Service bodyguard in the four episodes leading up to the third season finale of The West Wing. Mark Harmon was wonderful in that role. It broke my heart when he was killed in a stupid holdup in the finale. I still feel the break even now.

To be fair, CoderLady, Simon was never intended as anything more than a short-lived (no pun intended!) guest star.

If if makes you feel any better, AFAIK, it was seeing him in the role of Simon that got him cast in NCIS.

Yeah, I know. But they didn't have to kill him. ::sniff:: Ah, but it did make such excellent TV drama, and he was a memorable character.

I always really liked Bob the Janitor who was a surgeon in her country on "ER". Her friendship with Carter was really sweet, imo.

Malik,one of the nurses on ER always makes me think wayyy too much. I'm like "Does he have another job" ? "Does he make good money?" " Is this all he wants to do?" Etc.

I really, really liked the Nick Cooper intern on ER. He was the one character among a sea of thousand new characters that interested me. I enjoyed how he didn't cower in front of Romano. I was less than pleased with the way the character was unceremoniously dumped. He was a keeper in my books!

From a few pages ago: Dead Gay Larry.
Is that anything like "I love my dead gay son"? [/OT]

Minor characters? Madeline & Louise from GG.

GroovyChainsaw, I think the character's name is Dooley.

I quote him when applicable and employ his voice for effect all the time.

I love when Archie shows up on CSI. He's totally hot.

Most of the recurring minor characters on Seinfeld are worthy of this thread: Puddy and Peterman of course, but also Babu Batt, Jackie Chiles, Sue Ellen Mischke, Mr. Krueger, Mr. Pitt, George Steinbrenner, Uncle Leo, and my favorites, Susan's parents. ("Wear more lipstick!")

Almost all of the minor characters on the U.S. version of The Office are awesome. They usually only get one or two lines or expressions per episode, but they're all memorable and they add a lot to the show. Stanley and Phyllis are my heroes.

Posca in Rome. He had very few lines, but it was pretty clear that he was the brains of Caesar's operation.

Years ago, Malik was (for some reason) accused of being the mystery rapist in season 4 who went around raping old ladies and writing "whore" across their backs.
After that, it was an old joke on the alt.tv.er newsgroup that whenver something bad happened, "Malik did it."

Other old alt.tv.er jokes: when a character suddenyl dissapears, they are "Bobbed" (because of Bob). When primary players start showing up less and less they are "Doyled" (because of Maggie Doyle, although I think what happend ther was they dumped the lesbian Doyle for the non-lesbian and more traditionally attractive Maria Bello, and Jorja Fox decided that CSI was a better bet).

I loved the minor characters on Angel: Lindsey, Lilah, Holtz, Holland Manners, Darla, Hamilton . . . I liked basically everyone except for Eve, but my favorite will always be Lilah.

Thanks, Backstagebear. If Dooley is the dull-sounding redhead is Clark the nasal-sounding one with the really unfortunate haircut ? I also really like Joe-Jack, the Strickland propane employee with the heavy accent who calls everyone " Honey ".

Man, I'm gonna miss King Of The Hill when it's gone.

I don't know about why the character left 6 Feet Under, but the actor is doing pretty well on the US version of The Office. Same basic type of character, but completely different.

That said, I'd like to second the appreciation for the minor characters on that show. Even though you might only see them for 20 sec a show you really start to feel like you know the people over time. Maybe because they fit into 'typical' Office roles so well.

The who in the what, now? Do you mean jokingly on message boards, because I definitely don't recall it that way on the show.

I'm sure this is old news but since it wasn't brought up here, Captain Jack is getting his own spin off called "Torchwood."

This was in the fourth season (eight long years ago!) The rapist was some anonymous guy who got brought in a couple of episodes later. It wasn't Malik, and I have no idea why the people posting on Usenet (which is nearly defunct now, but was quite popular at the time) thought that Malik was responsible.

Aw, I love Joxer the mighty, he's really tidy... <ahem>. I think people tend to write him off because of the whole nepotism thing, but Ted Raimi is a fantastic actor. I remember being really impressed in the episode where he was playing triplets and the three of them were so different and distinct and his entire body language changed between each character.

After some consideration, I realize that I love a ton of minor characters -- it may be a sign of a great show to create and maintain multiple minor characters.

Farscape had a funny habit of turning tertiary characters into secondary ones. Scorpius was intended to be a one-shot, but he turned into a major villian PLUS he spawned Harvey. Braca kept going and going and going and going. But my favorite was Furlow, who outsmarted John and made a clean getaway. Furlow: Don't be the hero John. Always be the one to walk away while the hero dies. That's my motto.

I expect that Battlestar Galactica will spawn some new minor characters, but Ensign Dirty-Girl aka Specialist Cally has already earned my devotion for her toughness and loyalty to the Chief.

In the great and varied Star Trek universe, Q and Miles O'Brien, made the leap from hard-core trivia answer to named category of fanfic, but I always loved the running joke about Morn.

Lastly, a moment of respect for the memorable off-screen characters. From Carlson the doorman to Vera Petersen to Robin Masters and many others.

The year before, when Mark was beaten up in the bathroom, people on the alt.tv.er site were seriously speculating that Malik was his attacker, considering that (a) the two had clashed weeks earlier over Mark's assumption that a black teenager with a gunshot wound was a gangbanger (Malik found the assumption racist), and (b) as the ER crew was trying to stabilize and assess Mark, we got a quick cut to Malik's face.

For a split second, even *I* wondered about the significance of that.

Somewhere along the line, the whole thing turned into a joke, and from then on, the cry "Malik did it!" was heard everytime something went wrong in the ER--the serial rapes in season 4, the blackout in season 5, Carter & Lucy's stabbing (even though we SAW Sobricki do it), who got Chen pregnant, who caused Mark's brain tumor, etc.

The point being, I don't think anyone seriously thought Malik was the serial rapist.

I did think, in alliance with many of the alt.tv.er. people, that it was the new paramedic who had been hanging around and showing an interest in Carol.

I miss Lupe on Arrested Development.

I liked the weird character on Star Trek Next Generation that was having holodeck fantasies and seemed to exasperate Jordi a lot. (What was his name?) He seemed to me to represent an actual person with flaws and stuff--and like how people really would be who work together in the future.

Reginald Barkley. Who, in being less than perfect, was thus fit only to be laughed at and gossiped about by the bitchily flawless bridge-crew.

And he didn't even get a last name when they were talking to him, much less his rank. Wesley got more respect. (...because his mom was doing the Captain!...)

For some odd reason, I liked Susan from Friends, the lesbian girlfriend of Ross's ex wife Carol. She had little appearence, but always had those funny lines that made me laugh.

While I was thrilled on "M*A*S*H" when bit characters like Nurse Kellye or Igor the mess cook got larger roles than usual, I still think that instead of the forgotten "AfterM*A*S*H," if they needed a spin-off, it should have been "Col. Sam Flagg, Military Invesitgator": "I am the wind!" He was one of those great larger-than-life (larger even than normal sitcom exaggeration) characters, like Ernest T. Bass, who weren't used often, but were brilliant and stole the show, I don't know if Col. Flagg would have worked as well in larger doses, but he added a nice complication to the dynamic (while most everyone hated him, Burns admried him (of course), Margaret more or less lusted after him, and Col. Potter seemed bemused and fascinated by him, especially when he explained how he trained himself never to smile or laugh: "Watched 24 hours of the Three Stooges, poked myself with a cattle prod whenever I felt like grinning.") Similalrly, strange though it sounds to admit fondness for a TV *NAzi* (, on "Hogan's Heroes," my heart leapt whenever Major Hochstetter of the Gestapo showed up, at last a *truly* nasty yet funny Nazi ("Vhat is *this* man doing here?"), the only one to sort of guess what Hogan was up to, and with occasional unexpected foibles (falling to pieces when trying to find General Burkhalter's kidnapped sister; asking LeBeau to teach him to dance)... Though he fits as far as cool miner characters, by the end I think they did use him pretty well.

As far as dramas go, on "The Rockford Files," I loved the episodes with Meghan, the blind psychologist, and Rockford's relationship with her. He'd sort of flirted with Beth early on, and had occasional single-appearance dates (rarely), but they had such great chemistry, both very independent people, that I half wished they'd have settled down as a final episode for the series, though it probably wouldn't have worked (either as a relationship or as a TV ep, without feeling contrived).

Oh, and perhaps the coolest underused (on-camera) *extremely* minor character of all to my mind: Mr. Schwump on "The Andy Griffth Show." A portly, middle-aged man with a bad toupee and a strange grin, an odd blend of serenity and mildness, who in his first appearance, tried to pinch Ernest T. Bass. Never said a word, usually found sitting on the courthouse steps or milling at a social event, and greeted with a cursory "Oh hello, Mr. Schwump."

Barclay was a lieutenant, junior grade, and actually did get a chance to shine in "The Nth Degree" (he even went on a date with Troi!).

Yood rocked - and I was thrilled Fontana didn't kill him, like he did pretty much every other minor character I liked (Stanislavsky, The Colonel, Richie Hanlon). I also loved Bruno Goergen - a one-hit wonder inmate who showed up and got shanked in a single episode- but hold a special place in my heart for Dr. Faraj, Spunky!Prison!Dentist who not only managed to get Robson banished from the Aryan Brotherhood by implanting a black man's gums into his mouth, but who also whacked him in the face with a phone and got away in one piece. Go, Dr. Faraj!

I LOVED Joxer, along with the various Greek gods who showed up on the show from time to time, particularly Hades, Strife and Deimos.

Once the powers that be (or, as we referred to them then, the Idiots in Charge) decided to get rid of them, I stopped watching the show.

I think this thread is owned by "Delia Fisher" of My So-Called Life.

It seemed that with her history with Brian Krakkow and her crush on Ricky, she would have definitely had a somewhat larger role to play in season 2...but alas, she never had a chance.

I thought the actress did a great job of playing Delia's insecurities while not making her just a one-note pity party.

Also...I kind of liked Sharon's boyfriend....what was his name? Kyle? He was hot. Hot and dumb....just how I like 'em.

I liked Susan too, and the way she'd make fun of Ross. I thought it was sweet at Carol and Susan's wedding where Susan asked Ross to dance after he gave Carol away and, in a nod to Ross' many jokes about her being supposedly butch, smilingly said she'd let him lead. I thought it was shame she didn;t appear much in the show after that.

Zelenka on Stargate: Atlantis. I love it when he starts insulting people/things in Czech. And of course, he's part of team geek.

Crossing Jordan: Seely and Sidney (heh, rhyming names!). They're just too amusing to not get a bigger role.

Law & Order SVU: Brian Cassidy and Ken Briscoe. I miss 'em so, even if they were just in part of the first season. They had such potential, both being fairly new. Sigh.

NCIS: I wish Cassidy would come back more often than once a season, even if it doesn't make sense. She's just plain cool. And Fornell. Also, the two fibbies from "Under Covers" and the fibbie from "Frame Up". Heck, can we just get a FBI spin-off with Fornell and the fibbies? That would rock.

Veronica Mars: Butters. I want more Butters. And Sachs. And all of the crazy kids V babysat in "Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner".

Numb3rs: I want more Colby. That's all. Just more Colby. Oh, and Bill Nye's character, too.

CSI: Bobby and Jacqui need more airtime. Especially Jacqui.

CSI New York: Chad! What happened to him? And Doc Giles! And Detective Maka! And I hope we get to see more of the new sports-fan M.E.

As far as the Buffyverse goes, you don't want to get me started. Jonathan, Larry, Michael, Owen, Lindsey, Amy (well, pre-season six Amy, anyway), Ethan, Knox, Lilah, Harmony, Graham... I love 'em all. The minor characters made the shows more for me than the mains.

The only time I didn't like Susan is when she claimed Ross and Carol's baby as hers and Carol's considering that she was basically Carol's mistress for a time while Ross and Carol were together, but that is for another thread. But yeah, I was always disappointed that we didn't see or hear anything about Susan, Carol and Ben after Emma was born, considering this was Ben's little sister.

Ben was probably in therapy dealing with how his father ignored him at his Aunt's wedding.

After this most recent 24, I nominate Agent Aaron Pierce.

I'd like to add to the Aaron Pierce love. He rocked the last episode. I'm glad someone finally listened to Jack.

I'm Netflixing Xena DVDs (I haven't seen Xena in a while) and he is just too adorable for words.

Aw, speaking of Joxer, I caught the episode of Xena this morning where Joxer died at the hands of Eve.

Aw, yeah I saw that too. I just 'caught the last 15 minutes of it but it was still sad.

Gabrielle: Joxer what did you do?
Joxer: I didn't want to disappoint you.

Or something to that effect.


Other minor characters that I wish we saw more of are Sunday from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she was awesomely hilarious in The Freshman; Maxine Valera from CSI: Miami, I swear she's the only tolerable person on that show; and David (the millionaire computer nerd) from Angel.

[/QUOTE]The only time I didn't like Susan is when she claimed Ross and Carol's baby as hers and Carol's considering that she was basically Carol's mistress for a time while Ross and Carol were together, but that is for another thread. But yeah, I was always disappointed that we didn't see or hear anything about Susan, Carol and Ben after Emma was born, considering this was Ben's little sister. [QUOTE]

OK...how dopey am I that when I read this, I thought of Susan, Ross, and Carol as characters on ER, and could not, for the life of me, recall Dr. Lewis ever trying to take away Doug & Carol's baby/s.

Of course Ben & Emma confused me enough so that I finally realized that this was completely not about ER . . . but another NBC Thursday night show. Is it weird that they had so many of the same names? Or that I never noticed until now?

Ooh! I know this is an old old thread, but I have one from the Soap Opera genre --- Scotty (played by Blair Redford) on The Young and The Restless. You know, Lauren's son. I was in the minority that really loved Scotty, I loved his ragamufffin thrift store clothes, the fact that he was a writer, those sorts of things. But then when the Lauren vs. Shelia Carter thing ended this December, Scotty disappeared off the show.

I miss him every day when I watch the show *sniff*...

Beverly Leslie on Will & Grace. I giggle every time I see him on screen, even when he hasn't opened his mouth-- always thought he and Karen should marry after Stan died-- he for the cash, she for the sheer joy of mocking him through her alchohol-induced hazes...

Word to this. I'm hoping that when House's underlings are done with their fellowship/internship, one of them leaves (don't care who, pick the shortest straw) and Dr. Gilmar should come on board. I also would have loved to have seen a bit more of Gil Chesterton on 'Frasier' and hear about his boyhood in Surrey. Ok ... not so much his Surrey youth. Chances are his character is really most effective in small doses but he did shine in those.

The ENTIRE supporting cast of ER.

Randi the Receptionist rocks! So sassy, so self-assured, pretty good at her job and a jail-bird. Where has she gone?

Shirley the Surgical Nurse rocks! Tough, could stand up to Benton and Romano and really knew her job.

I liked Lydia, Lily, the long-departed Yosh, Haleh who has been kind of destroyed though she's still there, Chuny and all the rest.

Bob TOTALLY owns this on EVERY POSSIBLE LEVEL! There was a great little story about a less than confident woman who couldn't speak good English struggling to qualify to practice in America. It gets dropped the episode after its introduced and then she disappears after episode 2.5, really disappointing.

As far as regulars go, Chen and Malucci are two prime examples of potentially interesting characters massacred.

Nothing but love for Joxer. They did him wrong. There just wasn't enough of him.

I have to say Jimmy James from "Newsradio". Stephen Root was so excellent in that role that I felt that there wasn't nearly enough scenarios between he and the main cast.